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seanius 's review for:
The Hero With a Thousand Faces
by Joseph Campbell
Mystifying treatment of ancient myths from around the world, with a curious focus on folk and mythic tales of Ireland and the Pacific. In scope I can only compare it to Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation, or perhaps Russell's Philosophy (although Campbell is both less occidental and less patriarchal). However, Campbell's work is more enigmatic.
Both Clarke and Campbell must deal with the same dragon: the shameless triumph of Heroic Materialism: a kind of powerful yet mundane peak to the Western world. Campbell's treatment is most uplifting, yet I am at a loss for worlds to describe what exactly he has said: perhaps Hero with a 1000 Faces is in itself a new myth for our times. Is Campbell a kind of genius of mythology, or is he another trickster or clown of shadow, like Loki of Scandinavia or Edshu of Africa before him?
The text is mostly patriarchal indeed, yet does try to uncover various feminine if not entirely matriarchal figures of lore, in particular of Jainism and of the sun goddess of Japan.
A few minor glitches: at times hops around too much - a paragraph break between China and Ancient Greece would be nice! Sometimes jumps into a quoted poem, without any context. More character names would be good (for example why not name Heimdal etc where-ever they appear?). The Anglicisation of Irish character names is odd and non standard, with very awkward pronunciation guides given (for example, Cuchullain, but then the rough ch- sound is missing from modern English). Why not mention that he is the Hound of Ulster?
All in all, definitely worth a read for anyone curious about story telling and how the various cultural sources of our ever-shrinking world connect together. An eye opener for anyone raised a Christian - and perhaps a shocker for those who yet maintain that faith.
Both Clarke and Campbell must deal with the same dragon: the shameless triumph of Heroic Materialism: a kind of powerful yet mundane peak to the Western world. Campbell's treatment is most uplifting, yet I am at a loss for worlds to describe what exactly he has said: perhaps Hero with a 1000 Faces is in itself a new myth for our times. Is Campbell a kind of genius of mythology, or is he another trickster or clown of shadow, like Loki of Scandinavia or Edshu of Africa before him?
The text is mostly patriarchal indeed, yet does try to uncover various feminine if not entirely matriarchal figures of lore, in particular of Jainism and of the sun goddess of Japan.
A few minor glitches: at times hops around too much - a paragraph break between China and Ancient Greece would be nice! Sometimes jumps into a quoted poem, without any context. More character names would be good (for example why not name Heimdal etc where-ever they appear?). The Anglicisation of Irish character names is odd and non standard, with very awkward pronunciation guides given (for example, Cuchullain, but then the rough ch- sound is missing from modern English). Why not mention that he is the Hound of Ulster?
All in all, definitely worth a read for anyone curious about story telling and how the various cultural sources of our ever-shrinking world connect together. An eye opener for anyone raised a Christian - and perhaps a shocker for those who yet maintain that faith.